LOVE GONE VERY WRONG. Mo Twister and Rhian Ramos in Greece early this year.
GMA 7 actress Rhian Ramos has filed a temporary protection order suit against her ex-boyfriend, former TV5 host Mohan “Mo Twister” Gumatay, on Monday in Muntinlupa City.
Lorna Kapunan, Ramos’ counsel, told the Inquirer that Ramos is asking the court to stop Gumatay from further using the media and social networking sites to defame her.
Ramos also wants Gumatay “to stop calling, texting and e-mailing” her.
Emotional violence
“He’s still trying to get in touch with her,” Kapunan said. “Hopefully it will later become a permanent protection order.”
Kapunan said Gumatay violated Republic Act No. 9262 (Violence Against Women and Children Act) by inflicting “psychological and emotional violence” on Ramos.
In a video posted online last week, Gumatay claimed that Ramos had aborted their love child due to pressures from show business’ elders and her family. Gumatay has repeatedly denied uploading the video.
Ramos said Gumatay’s actions have traumatized her and her family. “More than what people have seen, I’ve been hurting over a longer period of time,” Ramos told the media. The pain was “unnecessary and undeserved,” she stressed.
‘Final’ statement
The actress added that, by filing the case, she hoped to “put an end to the issue now, so that I can move on.” Kapunan said Ramos would like Gumatay to be able to do the same.
In his “final statement” released on Sunday, Gumatay apologized to Ramos: “I’m sorry … that our roller-coaster relationship ended the way it did … But I love you. I always have.”
Kapunan remarked that Gumatay surely had a strange way of showing affection. “He’s very inconsistent. He professes love, but has made Rhian free game online.”
In the statement, Gumatay apologized to GMA Network, which earlier threatened to file a libel case against him. “The decision to have an abortion was not something the network instructed us to do,” he said.
Symptomatic
But he went on to criticize Ramos’ mother Clara Ramos and aunt Ida Ramos-Henares, head of GMA Artist Center, and blamed them for the abortion.
Kapunan put Gumatay to task for not sparing Ramos’ mother, who is a recovering cancer patient.
“Rhian said that this is between the two of them. Mo shouldn’t involve other people in their quarrel,” Kapunan said.
The whole issue, the lawyer pointed out, was “symptomatic of a bigger problem.”
Kapunan said it was important to file the case against Gumatay if only because no one is above the law. She elaborated: “If he is not afraid of media, he should be scared of the legal repercussions. Some personalities create scandals because they want to become media sensations.”
Gabriela hands off
But they shouldn’t violate the rights of other people in their quest for infamy, she said. “The problem with social networking sites [is that] people can easily deny any wrongdoing. But anything posted online can assume a life of its own.”
Kapunan hopes the scandal would die a natural death soon and that “next week, people will have another breakup to feast on.”
Meanwhile, Gabriela, a party-list group for women, is distancing itself from the issue because it found the “charges baseless and its source doubtful.” Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, however, said the group would support Ramos “if she asks for help.” With a report from Gil Cabacungan